BEIJING — The Philippines and China are eyeing a possible agreement to swap Filipino and Chinese prisoners so that they could serve their sentence in their own respective countries, Manila’s envoy here said Wednesday.
“There are some discussions on transfer of sentenced persons. They are trying to reach agreement so if they are sentenced, they can be transferred,” Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana told reporters in a press briefing.
“One of the issues being discussed is the possible agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons because there are also Chinese (prisoners) in the Philippines so that they could serve their sentence in their own countries,” Sta. Romana added.
He said there are 190 Filipinos, mostly women, who were in various prison facilities here after being found guilty of drug charges. He said two were on death row.
“So one of the problems we have here and is accumulated through the years is the number of Filipinos being detained because of being drug mules or because of carrying illegal amount of drugs,” he said.